2011 Tucson shooting
Encyclopedia
On January 8, 2011, a mass shooting occurred near Tucson, Arizona
. Nineteen people were shot, six of them fatally, with one other person injured at the scene during an open meeting that U.S. Representative
Gabrielle Giffords
was holding with members of her constituency in a Casas Adobes
Safeway
supermarket parking lot. Those killed in the incident include United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Chief Judge John Roll and one of Rep. Giffords's staffers. News reports identified the target of the attack as Giffords, a Democrat
representing . She was shot through the head
at point-blank range
, and her medical condition
was initially described as "critical".
A 22-year-old Tucson man, Jared Lee Loughner
, was arrested at the scene. Federal prosecutors have filed five charges against him, including the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, and the assassination of a federal judge; both of which carry the death penalty. Court filings include notes allegedly handwritten by Loughner indicating he planned to assassinate Giffords. The motive for the shooting remains unclear, as the suspect refused to cooperate with authorities and has invoked his right to remain silent. Loughner was found by a judge to be incompetent to stand trial
based on two medical evaluations
.
(UTC
-7). A United States Representative from Arizona
, Gabrielle Giffords, was holding a constituent meeting called "Congress on Your Corner" at the Safeway
supermarket in La Toscana Village mall, which is in Casas Adobes, an unincorporated area
north of Tucson, Arizona
. Giffords had set up a table outside the store and about 20 to 30 people were gathered around her when the gunman drew a pistol and shot Giffords in the head. The shooting was caught on video by a store security camera.
He then allegedly proceeded to fire apparently randomly at other members of the crowd. The weapon used was reported to be a 9mm Glock 19
semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine. A nearby store employee said he heard "15 to 20 gunshots". After the gunman ran out of ammunition in the first magazine, he stopped to reload, but dropped the loaded magazine from his pocket to the sidewalk, from where bystander Patricia Maisch grabbed it. A bystander clubbed the back of the assailant's head with a folding chair, injuring his elbow in the process, representing the 20th injury. The gunman was then tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired US Army Colonel
Bill Badger, who himself had been shot, and was further subdued by Maisch and bystanders Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio.
The first call from the scene to emergency services was received at 10:11 am. While waiting for help to arrive, Giffords' intern Daniel Hernández, Jr. applied pressure to the gunshot wound on her forehead, and made sure she did not choke on her blood. Hernández was credited with saving Giffords' life. David and Nancy Bowman, a married doctor and nurse who were shopping in the store, immediately set up triage
and attended to nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Police arrived on the scene at 10:15 am, with paramedics arriving at 10:16 am. Badger observed the assailant attempting to discard a small bag containing money and identification, which was recovered by the officers.
Five people died at the scene, including Chief Judge John Roll and Giffords' community outreach director Gabe Zimmerman. Most of the injured were taken to University Medical Center in Tucson. Christina-Taylor Green was later pronounced dead on arrival
at the hospital.
, assisted Giffords after she was wounded and is credited with saving her life. Giffords was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition, though she was still conscious. Within 38 minutes, Giffords underwent emergency surgery, and part of her skull was removed to prevent further brain damage caused by swelling. She was placed into a medically-induced coma
to allow her brain to rest. During a memorial ceremony on January 12, President Barack Obama
announced that earlier that day Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time since the attack.
As Giffords' status improved, she began simple physical therapy. On January 21, less than two weeks after the attack, her condition was deemed sufficiently stable for her to be released to Houston's Memorial Hermann Medical Center. A few days later she was moved to the center's Institute for Rehabilitation and Research to undergo a program of physical therapy and rehabilitation. After examination, her Houston doctors were optimistic, saying she has "great rehabilitation potential". Medical experts expect Giffords' recovery to take from several months to more than one year.
On August 1, she made her first public appearance on the House floor to vote in favor of raising the debt limit ceiling. She was met with a standing ovation and accolades from her fellow members of Congress. Giffords engaged in intensive rehabilitation treatments in Asheville, North Carolina
from October 25 through November 4. In Kelly's memoir, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, released in November 2011, he reports that Giffords vows to return to Congress, although she continues to struggle with language and has lost 50 percent of her vision in both eyes.
Police identified the suspect as Jared Lee Loughner, born on September 10, 1988. The FBI
attempted to question the suspect, but he reportedly refused to cooperate with authorities and invoked his Fifth Amendment
right. Authorities have said the alleged shooter's motivation was unknown. However, evidence seized from a safe in the suspect's home included an envelope marked with notes reading "I planned ahead", "My assassination", and "Giffords", as well as a letter from Giffords's office thanking him for attending a similar event in 2007.
Federal officials charged Loughner on the next day with killing federal government employees, attempting to assassinate a member of Congress and attempting to kill federal employees.
As the shooting occurred outside the Tucson city limits in unincorporated Casas Adobes, the Pima County Sheriff's Department started the initial investigation with assistance from the Tucson Police Department
and the Arizona Department of Public Safety
. Federal Bureau of Investigation
director Robert Mueller
was ordered to the location by President Obama, and the FBI is ready to take over the investigation. The United States Capitol Police
are also conducting an investigation.
Little was initially known about the suspect, but his online presence was soon discovered, as he had accounts on both Myspace and YouTube. His Myspace profile included a pistol on a photograph of an American history textbook. Hours before the incident, Loughner's Myspace page was updated with posts from his account stating, "Goodbye," and said to friends: "Please don't be mad at me." Long before the shooting, Loughner had posted numerous text and videos on the Internet. He briefly discussed terrorism, saying "If I define terrorist then a terrorist is a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon. I define terrorist ... If you call me a terrorist then the argument to call me a terrorist is ad hominem
. You call me a terrorist."
A YouTube
channel under an account called "Classitup10" was attributed to Loughner. The profile of this account stated among other things that some of the subject's favorite books were Mein Kampf
, The Communist Manifesto
, Animal Farm
, Plato's Republic, and We the Living
; one video told viewers that they "don't have to accept the federalist laws", called for a return to the gold standard
, and accused the government of mind-controlling
and brainwashing the citizenry with language. The YouTube profile also listed works such as The Wizard of Oz
, Peter Pan
, Gulliver's Travels
, and Through the Looking-Glass
. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
stated that there was no evidence that the shooting was a result of anything in particular that Loughner might have read or heard.
Loughner attended Pima Community College
until school authorities suspended him after receiving complaints of his inappropriate behavior in class. He had also posted a video on YouTube on September 23, 2010, in which he described the college as "one of the biggest scams in America". Loughner chose to drop out in October 2010, rather than having the mental health
evaluation and clearance which would have been required for him to re-enroll. The question of whether Loughner could have been forced to undergo a mental health evaluation is a matter of controversy.
According to court records, Loughner had two previous offenses, one of which was for drug possession. U.S. Army officials said that Loughner had attempted to enlist, but his application had been rejected as "unqualified" for service in 2008. They declined further disclosure due to confidentiality rules, although an administration official indicated to the media that this was due to a failed drug test.
Bryce Tierney, a friend of Loughner, received a voice message from Loughner eight hours before the shooting. Tierney stated that Loughner held a grudge against Giffords for failing to answer a question sufficiently, in his view. Loughner previously met Giffords at a "Congress on your Corner" event in a Tucson mall on August 25, 2007, where he asked the congresswoman, "How do you know words mean anything?"
Pima County Registrar of Voters records show that Loughner registered as an independent on September 29, 2006, and voted in 2006 and 2008 but not in 2010.
Police reports reveal he had purchased a Glock pistol at a Sportsman's Warehouse
store less than six weeks before and attempted to buy additional ammunition for the pistol at a Walmart on the morning of the shooting. News reports indicate that the clerk at the first Walmart where Loughner attempted to buy the ammunition may have refused to sell it to him based on his appearance and demeanor. Walmart declined requests to confirm or deny the incident.
Earlier on the day of the shooting, Loughner is reported to have had an altercation with his father, who had watched his son take a black bag from a car trunk. After being confronted about the bag, Loughner mumbled and ran away, resulting in his father chasing him in a car. A bag matching the description was later found in a nearby desert area containing 9mm ammunition, and according to a Pima County Sheriff's Deputy it is believed to belong to Loughner. Later that morning, at approximately 7:30 am, Loughner was stopped by an Arizona Game and Fish Department
officer after running a red light, but was released with a warning after it was determined that there were no outstanding warrants against him.
without bail.
All federal judges based in Arizona recused themselves from the case because of their ties to Judge Roll, who was killed in the attack. The federal case will be heard by a San Diego-based jurist, Judge Larry Burns
from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
. Public defender
Judy Clarke
(also based in San Diego) was appointed to represent Loughner in federal court.
On January 19, 2011, a federal grand jury
handed down an indictment
for three counts against Jared Lee Loughner for the attempt to assassinate Representative Giffords, and attempting to kill two federal employees, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon. Loughner was indicted on additional charges of murder and attempted murder on March 3, for a total of 49 counts against him. Prosecutors representing the State of Arizona announced they intend to file murder and attempted murder charges on behalf of the victims who were not federal employees. Under Arizona's speedy trial
statutes, Arizona state prosecutors normally have ten days from the time a suspect is taken into custody to file charges, but time spent in federal custody does not count toward this limitation. On May 25, 2011, Loughner was found by a judge to be incompetent to stand trial based on two medical evaluations.
If convicted in either federal or state court, Loughner could face the death penalty. The United States federal laws governing defendants with mental diseases or defects
were reviewed and resulted in the Insanity Defense Reform Act
of 1984, after John Hinckley, Jr.
was acquitted by a court over the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
in March 1981. Arizona law does not permit a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, but does allow for a verdict of guilty but insane.
Thirteen people were wounded in the attack; a fourteenth person was injured at the scene, but was determined not to have been shot. Gabrielle Giffords and two other members of her staff were among the surviving gunshot victims.
called the shooting an "unspeakable tragedy", adding that "such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society". Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
called the attack "senseless and cruel violence" and House Speaker John Boehner
said, "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society". Chief Justice
John Roberts
issued a statement noting, "we in the judiciary have suffered the terrible loss of one of our own", with the death of Chief Judge John Roll.
Arizona's United States Senators
Jon Kyl
and John McCain
, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
and many others issued statements.
Numerous foreign politicians commented on the shooting including Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon
, British Prime Minister David Cameron
, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
, and Cuba's Fidel Castro
.
Senator Chuck Schumer called for a fresh look at gun control
laws in the United States, including the possibility of prohibiting the sale of high capacity magazines, and prohibiting a person who has been rejected for military service due to drug use from owning a gun. Homeland Security Committee
chairman Peter T. King
announced that he would introduce a bill to ban the carrying of firearms within 1000 feet (304.8 m) of certain federal officials. Representative Carolyn McCarthy
announced that she would introduce legislation to ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines to civilians.
On the night of January 11, Governor Brewer signed emergency legislation to prohibit protests within 300 feet (91.4 m) of any funeral services, in response to an announcement by the Westboro Baptist Church
that it planned to picket the funeral of shooting victim Christina-Taylor Green.
In light of the Tucson shooting, Senator Mark Udall
of Colorado proposed that members of both houses sit together during the 2011 State of the Union Address
regardless of party, breaking with tradition. Sixty members of the House and Senate signaled their support for the plan. One seat was left empty in honor of Representative Giffords.
on January 10, 2011 on the South Lawn of the White House
as well as the steps of the United States Capitol
.
President Obama went to Tucson on January 12 where he met with the families of the victims and visited Giffords at her bedside in the medical center before attending the evening's televised memorial ceremony where he delivered a condolence address. Obama spoke of Giffords' improving condition, recalled and praised the victims of the attack, and held up Christina-Taylor Green and her interest in civics and leadership as examples for how American politics should function. "I want us to live up to her expectations," stated Obama. "I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us—we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."
Obama's speech was widely praised across the American political spectrum, but a few critics felt that applause and cheering from the audience created an inappropriate pep rally
-like atmosphere at the service.
The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
, played at Chase Field
in Phoenix
, was dedicated to the Tucson shooting victims. Hernandez threw out the ceremonial first pitch to National League
starting catcher
Brian McCann. Hernandez was accompanied to the field by the families of the shooting victims.
. On the eve of the shooting, Giffords herself had written to a Republican friend, Trey Grayson
, Secretary of State of Kentucky, saying, "we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down." In March 2010, Giffords had expressed concern about the use of crosshairs on a national midterm election
map on Sarah Palin's
campaign webpage denoting targeted congressional seats including Giffords's, in Arizona's 8th district. Shortly after the map's posting and the subsequent vandalizing of her office that month, Giffords said, "We're in Sarah Palin's 'targeted' list, but the thing is that the way she has it depicted, we're in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize that there are consequences to that action." The image was removed from Palin's "takebackthe20" website following the January shootings.
The political climate in the United States and in Arizona in particular was pointed to by some observers as a possible contributing factor for the violent act. For example, Clarence Dupnik
, Pima County Sheriff, initially expressed concern that overheated political rhetoric and violence may be related, observing, "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous." He felt that Arizona had unfortunately become "the capital" of such feelings. "We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry," he said. However, Dupnik later said that he had no evidence that the alleged murders were a result of anything particular Loughner may have read or heard. International media had referred to the political climate in the United States and the Palin map in particular. The French newspaper Le Monde
said that the attack seemed to confirm "an alarming premonition that has been gaining momentum for a long time: that the verbal and symbolic violence that the most radical right-wing opponents have used in their clash with the Obama administration would at some point lead to tragic physical violence." In the Netherlands, historian Maarten van Rossem mentioned that "a strong political polarization in the United States has led to a poisoned political climate".
Some media commentators, such as Howard Kurtz
and Toby Harnden
, criticized what they perceived as a rush to judgment about the shooter's motivation, disputing suggestions that the shooting was the result of the Tea Party movement
or anything in connection to Palin. Paul Krugman
wrote an op-ed
piece arguing that political rhetoric had become toxic. With renewed calls to tone down political rhetoric after the shooting, Keith Olbermann
apologized for any of his own words that might have incited violence saying, "Violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our Democracy, and I apologize for and repudiate any act or any thing in my past that may have even inadvertently encouraged violence." Jon Stewart
stated that he did not know whether or not the political environment contributed to the shooting, but, "For all the hyperbole and vitriol that's become a part of our political process—when the reality of that rhetoric, when actions match the disturbing nature of words, we haven't lost our capacity to be horrified. ... Maybe it helps us to remember to match our rhetoric with reality more often."
Palin responded to her critics in a January 12 video, rejecting the notion that anyone other than the actual gunman could bear any responsibility for the Tucson shooting and accusing the press of manufacturing a "blood libel
" to blame her and the right wing
for the attacks.
On Sunday, January 16, eight days after the shooting, Vietnam War veteran James Eric Fuller, who had been shot in the knee during the Loughner attack, was arrested for disorderly conduct at a town hall meeting. After Tucson Tea Party figure Trent Humphries, who had faulted Giffords for not having enough security, stated that gun control measures should not be discussed until all those killed in the shooting were buried, Fuller allegedly took a picture of Humphries and shouted, "You're dead." In an interview during the week after the shooting, Fuller had criticized Palin and what he called the "Tea Party crime-syndicate" for promoting a divisive political climate before the attacks. The police then committed him to an undisclosed medical facility to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. A police spokesman stated that the hospital will determine when he will be released. Meanwhile Humphries said that he was worried about Fuller's threat, and the dozens of other angry e-mails he received from people blaming right-wing political rhetoric for contributing to the assassination attempt on Giffords.
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. Nineteen people were shot, six of them fatally, with one other person injured at the scene during an open meeting that U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Gabrielle Giffords
Gabrielle Giffords
Gabrielle Dee "Gabby" Giffords is an American politician. A Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, she has represented since 2007. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress...
was holding with members of her constituency in a Casas Adobes
Casas Adobes, Arizona
Casas Adobes is a census-designated place located in the northern metropolitan area of Tucson, Arizona . The population was 54,011 at the 2000 census...
Safeway
Safeway Inc.
Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern...
supermarket parking lot. Those killed in the incident include United States District Court for the District of Arizona
United States District Court for the District of Arizona
The United States District Court for the District of Arizona is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Arizona. Court is held in the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and Prescott. The district was created on June 20, 1910, by 36 Stat. 557...
Chief Judge John Roll and one of Rep. Giffords's staffers. News reports identified the target of the attack as Giffords, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
representing . She was shot through the head
Penetrating head injury
A penetrating head injury, or open head injury, is a head injury in which the dura mater, the outer layer of the meninges, is breached. Penetrating injury can be caused by high-velocity projectiles or objects of lower velocity such as knives, or bone fragments from a skull fracture that are...
at point-blank range
Point-blank range
In external ballistics, point-blank range is the distance between a firearm and a target of a given size such that the bullet in flight is expected to strike the target without adjusting the elevation of the firearm. The point-blank range will vary with the firearm and its particular ballistic...
, and her medical condition
Medical state
Medical states or medical conditions are used to describe a patient's condition in a hospital. These terms are most commonly used by the news media and are rarely used by doctors, who in their daily business prefer to deal with medical problems in greater detail.Either or both of two aspects of...
was initially described as "critical".
A 22-year-old Tucson man, Jared Lee Loughner
Jared Lee Loughner
Jared Lee Loughner is an American man who is charged with the January 8, 2011 Tucson, Arizona shooting that killed six people, including Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Roll. The shooting also left 14 others injured, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords...
, was arrested at the scene. Federal prosecutors have filed five charges against him, including the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, and the assassination of a federal judge; both of which carry the death penalty. Court filings include notes allegedly handwritten by Loughner indicating he planned to assassinate Giffords. The motive for the shooting remains unclear, as the suspect refused to cooperate with authorities and has invoked his right to remain silent. Loughner was found by a judge to be incompetent to stand trial
Competence (law)
In American law, competence concerns the mental capacity of an individual to participate in legal proceedings. Defendants that do not possess sufficient "competence" are usually excluded from criminal prosecution, while witnesses found not to possess requisite competence cannot testify...
based on two medical evaluations
Competency evaluation (law)
In the United States criminal justice system, a competency evaluation is an assessment of the ability of a defendant to understand and rationally participate in a court process....
.
Shooting
The shooting took place on January 8, 2011, at 10:10 am MSTMountain Time Zone
The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, during the shortest days of autumn and winter , and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time in the spring, summer, and early autumn...
(UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
-7). A United States Representative from Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Gabrielle Giffords, was holding a constituent meeting called "Congress on Your Corner" at the Safeway
Safeway Inc.
Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern...
supermarket in La Toscana Village mall, which is in Casas Adobes, an unincorporated area
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
north of Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. Giffords had set up a table outside the store and about 20 to 30 people were gathered around her when the gunman drew a pistol and shot Giffords in the head. The shooting was caught on video by a store security camera.
He then allegedly proceeded to fire apparently randomly at other members of the crowd. The weapon used was reported to be a 9mm Glock 19
Glock pistol
The Glock pistol, sometimes referred to by the manufacturer as Glock "Safe Action" Pistol, is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Glock Ges.m.b.H., located in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria. The company's founder, engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearm design or...
semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine. A nearby store employee said he heard "15 to 20 gunshots". After the gunman ran out of ammunition in the first magazine, he stopped to reload, but dropped the loaded magazine from his pocket to the sidewalk, from where bystander Patricia Maisch grabbed it. A bystander clubbed the back of the assailant's head with a folding chair, injuring his elbow in the process, representing the 20th injury. The gunman was then tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired US Army Colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
Bill Badger, who himself had been shot, and was further subdued by Maisch and bystanders Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio.
The first call from the scene to emergency services was received at 10:11 am. While waiting for help to arrive, Giffords' intern Daniel Hernández, Jr. applied pressure to the gunshot wound on her forehead, and made sure she did not choke on her blood. Hernández was credited with saving Giffords' life. David and Nancy Bowman, a married doctor and nurse who were shopping in the store, immediately set up triage
Triage
Triage or ) is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition. This rations patient treatment efficiently when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately. The term comes from the French verb trier, meaning to separate,...
and attended to nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Police arrived on the scene at 10:15 am, with paramedics arriving at 10:16 am. Badger observed the assailant attempting to discard a small bag containing money and identification, which was recovered by the officers.
Five people died at the scene, including Chief Judge John Roll and Giffords' community outreach director Gabe Zimmerman. Most of the injured were taken to University Medical Center in Tucson. Christina-Taylor Green was later pronounced dead on arrival
Dead on arrival
Dead on arrival or D.O.A. is a term used to indicate that a patient was found to be already clinically dead upon the arrival of professional medical assistance, often in the form of first responders such as emergency medical technicians, paramedics, or police...
at the hospital.
Target of the attack
Gabrielle Giffords was reported to be the target of the shootings. Some news organizations initially reported that she had been killed, but these statements were quickly revised to reflect that she had survived with a gunshot wound to the head. Daniel Hernandez Jr., an intern to U.S. Representative Gabrielle GiffordsGabrielle Giffords
Gabrielle Dee "Gabby" Giffords is an American politician. A Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, she has represented since 2007. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress...
, assisted Giffords after she was wounded and is credited with saving her life. Giffords was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition, though she was still conscious. Within 38 minutes, Giffords underwent emergency surgery, and part of her skull was removed to prevent further brain damage caused by swelling. She was placed into a medically-induced coma
Induced coma
A barbiturate-induced coma, or barb coma, is a temporary coma brought on by a controlled dose of a barbiturate drug, usually pentobarbital or thiopental...
to allow her brain to rest. During a memorial ceremony on January 12, President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
announced that earlier that day Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time since the attack.
As Giffords' status improved, she began simple physical therapy. On January 21, less than two weeks after the attack, her condition was deemed sufficiently stable for her to be released to Houston's Memorial Hermann Medical Center. A few days later she was moved to the center's Institute for Rehabilitation and Research to undergo a program of physical therapy and rehabilitation. After examination, her Houston doctors were optimistic, saying she has "great rehabilitation potential". Medical experts expect Giffords' recovery to take from several months to more than one year.
On August 1, she made her first public appearance on the House floor to vote in favor of raising the debt limit ceiling. She was met with a standing ovation and accolades from her fellow members of Congress. Giffords engaged in intensive rehabilitation treatments in Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
from October 25 through November 4. In Kelly's memoir, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, released in November 2011, he reports that Giffords vows to return to Congress, although she continues to struggle with language and has lost 50 percent of her vision in both eyes.
Investigation
The suspect, described as a white male in his mid-20s with short hair and "dressed in a shabby manner", was arrested after being detained by bystanders.Police identified the suspect as Jared Lee Loughner, born on September 10, 1988. The FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
attempted to question the suspect, but he reportedly refused to cooperate with authorities and invoked his Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
right. Authorities have said the alleged shooter's motivation was unknown. However, evidence seized from a safe in the suspect's home included an envelope marked with notes reading "I planned ahead", "My assassination", and "Giffords", as well as a letter from Giffords's office thanking him for attending a similar event in 2007.
Federal officials charged Loughner on the next day with killing federal government employees, attempting to assassinate a member of Congress and attempting to kill federal employees.
As the shooting occurred outside the Tucson city limits in unincorporated Casas Adobes, the Pima County Sheriff's Department started the initial investigation with assistance from the Tucson Police Department
Tucson Police Department
The Tucson Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of Tucson, Arizona. TPD has a total 932 police officers compared to 960 in the 1990s. Tucson Police has suffered a great amount of budget cuts and federal funding...
and the Arizona Department of Public Safety
Arizona Department of Public Safety
Arizona Department of Public Safety is a law enforcement agency with its usual focus being protection of all Arizona highways. The current Director is Robert C. Halliday, a previously retired DPS commander, who began his 5-year term in February 2010...
. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
director Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
was ordered to the location by President Obama, and the FBI is ready to take over the investigation. The United States Capitol Police
United States Capitol Police
The United States Capitol Police is a federal police force charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories.-History:...
are also conducting an investigation.
Suspect
Jared Lee Loughner, the primary suspect, was 22 years old and lived with his parents in Tucson, about 5 miles (8 km) from the site of the shooting. Caiti Parker, who claimed she knew the suspect in high school four years earlier, described him as a politically radical loner.Little was initially known about the suspect, but his online presence was soon discovered, as he had accounts on both Myspace and YouTube. His Myspace profile included a pistol on a photograph of an American history textbook. Hours before the incident, Loughner's Myspace page was updated with posts from his account stating, "Goodbye," and said to friends: "Please don't be mad at me." Long before the shooting, Loughner had posted numerous text and videos on the Internet. He briefly discussed terrorism, saying "If I define terrorist then a terrorist is a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon. I define terrorist ... If you call me a terrorist then the argument to call me a terrorist is ad hominem
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
. You call me a terrorist."
A YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel under an account called "Classitup10" was attributed to Loughner. The profile of this account stated among other things that some of the subject's favorite books were Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
, The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party is a short 1848 publication written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the...
, Animal Farm
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...
, Plato's Republic, and We the Living
We the Living
We the Living is the first novel published by the Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand. It was also Rand's first statement against communism. First published in 1936, it is a story of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Rand observes in the foreword to this book that We the Living was the closest she...
; one video told viewers that they "don't have to accept the federalist laws", called for a return to the gold standard
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
, and accused the government of mind-controlling
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
and brainwashing the citizenry with language. The YouTube profile also listed works such as The Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
, Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
, Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
, and Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
Clarence Dupnik
Clarence William Dupnik is an American law enforcement official. Dupnik was appointed Sheriff of Pima County, Arizona, in February 1980 to fill a vacancy rising from the resignation of his predecessor, Richard Boykin. He won election in his own right in September 1980, and has been re-elected...
stated that there was no evidence that the shooting was a result of anything in particular that Loughner might have read or heard.
Loughner attended Pima Community College
Pima Community College
Pima Community College is an American two-year institution of higher education in Pima County, Arizona serving the Tucson metropolitan area. The community college district consists of six campuses, four education centers, and several adult education learning centers. It provides traditional and...
until school authorities suspended him after receiving complaints of his inappropriate behavior in class. He had also posted a video on YouTube on September 23, 2010, in which he described the college as "one of the biggest scams in America". Loughner chose to drop out in October 2010, rather than having the mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
evaluation and clearance which would have been required for him to re-enroll. The question of whether Loughner could have been forced to undergo a mental health evaluation is a matter of controversy.
According to court records, Loughner had two previous offenses, one of which was for drug possession. U.S. Army officials said that Loughner had attempted to enlist, but his application had been rejected as "unqualified" for service in 2008. They declined further disclosure due to confidentiality rules, although an administration official indicated to the media that this was due to a failed drug test.
Bryce Tierney, a friend of Loughner, received a voice message from Loughner eight hours before the shooting. Tierney stated that Loughner held a grudge against Giffords for failing to answer a question sufficiently, in his view. Loughner previously met Giffords at a "Congress on your Corner" event in a Tucson mall on August 25, 2007, where he asked the congresswoman, "How do you know words mean anything?"
Pima County Registrar of Voters records show that Loughner registered as an independent on September 29, 2006, and voted in 2006 and 2008 but not in 2010.
Police reports reveal he had purchased a Glock pistol at a Sportsman's Warehouse
Sportsman's Warehouse
Sportsman's Warehouse is an outdoor sporting goods retailer which operates in 14 states across the United States, including Alaska. Sportsman's Warehouse sells apparel, footwear, and gear which caters to sportsmen and sportswomen with interests in hunting, shooting, reloading, camping, fishing, and...
store less than six weeks before and attempted to buy additional ammunition for the pistol at a Walmart on the morning of the shooting. News reports indicate that the clerk at the first Walmart where Loughner attempted to buy the ammunition may have refused to sell it to him based on his appearance and demeanor. Walmart declined requests to confirm or deny the incident.
Earlier on the day of the shooting, Loughner is reported to have had an altercation with his father, who had watched his son take a black bag from a car trunk. After being confronted about the bag, Loughner mumbled and ran away, resulting in his father chasing him in a car. A bag matching the description was later found in a nearby desert area containing 9mm ammunition, and according to a Pima County Sheriff's Deputy it is believed to belong to Loughner. Later that morning, at approximately 7:30 am, Loughner was stopped by an Arizona Game and Fish Department
Arizona Game and Fish Department
The Arizona Game and Fish Department is a state agency of Arizona, headquartered in Phoenix. The agency is tasked with conserving, enhancing, and restoring Arizona's diverse wildlife resources and habitats through aggressive protection and management programs...
officer after running a red light, but was released with a warning after it was determined that there were no outstanding warrants against him.
Legal proceedings
Loughner is being held in the Federal Correctional Institution at PhoenixFederal Correctional Institution, Phoenix
Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix is a U.S. federal prison located in Phoenix, Arizona. Operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it is a medium-security facility housing male inmates and also has an adjacent satellite prison camp that houses minimum-security female offenders...
without bail.
All federal judges based in Arizona recused themselves from the case because of their ties to Judge Roll, who was killed in the attack. The federal case will be heard by a San Diego-based jurist, Judge Larry Burns
Larry Alan Burns
Larry Alan Burns is a United States federal judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.-Early life and education:...
from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
United States District Court for the Southern District of California
The United States District Court for the Southern District of California is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties in California: Imperial and San Diego. In terms of filed indictments, it is one of the busiest criminal districts in the United States...
. Public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
Judy Clarke
Judy Clarke
Judy Clarke is an American criminal defense attorney who practices law in San Diego, California and has served as a public defender in many high-profile cases throughout the United States. Clarke has previously served as President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers...
(also based in San Diego) was appointed to represent Loughner in federal court.
On January 19, 2011, a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
handed down an indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
for three counts against Jared Lee Loughner for the attempt to assassinate Representative Giffords, and attempting to kill two federal employees, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon. Loughner was indicted on additional charges of murder and attempted murder on March 3, for a total of 49 counts against him. Prosecutors representing the State of Arizona announced they intend to file murder and attempted murder charges on behalf of the victims who were not federal employees. Under Arizona's speedy trial
Speedy trial
Speedy trial refers to one of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution to defendants in criminal proceedings. The right to a speedy trial, guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, is intended to ensure that defendants are not subjected to unreasonably lengthy incarceration prior to a fair...
statutes, Arizona state prosecutors normally have ten days from the time a suspect is taken into custody to file charges, but time spent in federal custody does not count toward this limitation. On May 25, 2011, Loughner was found by a judge to be incompetent to stand trial based on two medical evaluations.
If convicted in either federal or state court, Loughner could face the death penalty. The United States federal laws governing defendants with mental diseases or defects
United States federal laws governing defendants with mental diseases or defects
United States federal laws governing offenders with mental diseases or defects provide for the evaluation and handling of defendants who are suspected of having mental diseases or defects...
were reviewed and resulted in the Insanity Defense Reform Act
Insanity Defense Reform Act
The Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 was a law passed in the wake of public outrage after John Hinckley, Jr.'s acquittal for the Reagan assassination attempt. It amended the United States federal laws governing defendants with mental diseases or defects to make it significantly more difficult to...
of 1984, after John Hinckley, Jr.
John Hinckley, Jr.
John Warnock Hinckley, Jr., attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, as the culmination of an effort to impress teen actress Jodie Foster. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has remained under institutional psychiatric care since...
was acquitted by a court over the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
Reagan assassination attempt
The Reagan assassination attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr...
in March 1981. Arizona law does not permit a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, but does allow for a verdict of guilty but insane.
Victims
Six people were killed in the attack; all but Christina-Taylor Green died at the scene of the shooting. The deceased are (in alphabetical order by surname):- Christina-Taylor Green, 9, of Tucson. Green was accompanied to the meeting by neighbor Susan Hileman. Because her date of birth was September 11, 2001, she had appeared in the book Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11 (page 41). She was the granddaughter of former Major League BaseballMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player and manager Dallas GreenDallas GreenGeorge Dallas Green is a former pitcher, manager, and executive in Major League Baseball. After playing for the Philadelphia Phillies and two other teams, he went on to manage the Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets, and managed the Phillies when they won their first World Series...
. - Dorothy "Dot" Morris, 76, a retired secretary from Oro ValleyOro Valley, ArizonaOro Valley, incorporated in 1974, is a suburban town located north of Tucson, Arizona, USA in Pima County. According to a July 2008 estimate, the population of the town is 43,223, an increase from 29,700 in 2000 Oro Valley, incorporated in 1974, is a suburban town located north of Tucson,...
; wife of George, who was wounded. - John Roll, 63, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for ArizonaUnited States District Court for the District of ArizonaThe United States District Court for the District of Arizona is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Arizona. Court is held in the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and Prescott. The district was created on June 20, 1910, by 36 Stat. 557...
, named to the federal bench by President George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
in 1991. - Phyllis Schneck, 79, homemaker from Tucson.
- Dorwan Stoddard, 76, retired construction worker, died from a gunshot wound to the head; his wife Mavy was wounded.
- Gabriel "Gabe" Zimmerman, 30, community outreach director for Giffords, and a member of Giffords' staff since 2006. Mr. Zimmerman was the first Congressional staffer killed in the line of duty.
Thirteen people were wounded in the attack; a fourteenth person was injured at the scene, but was determined not to have been shot. Gabrielle Giffords and two other members of her staff were among the surviving gunshot victims.
Tucson
Following the shooting, the roads surrounding the shopping center were shut down until late in the day. The intersection was cordoned off and most of the businesses in the shopping center were closed throughout the weekend during the initial investigation. The Safeway store reopened a week later, with a makeshift memorial erected near the front of the store.Loughner's family
On the day of the attack Loughner's parents arrived at their home after a shopping trip, unaware of the shootings, to find police tape and police cars around their house. Neighbor Wayne Smith told them what happened. Smith said Loughner's mother "almost passed out right there," while his father sat in the road and cried. Smith described the family as "devastated", feeling guilty, and wondering "where did they fail?" Loughner's parents released a statement on January 11, 2011, expressing remorse for the victims and saying "We don't understand why this happened."Political figures
President ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
called the shooting an "unspeakable tragedy", adding that "such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society". Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
Jan Brewer
Janice Kay "Jan" Brewer is the 22nd and current Governor of the U.S. state of Arizona and a member of the Republican Party. She is the fourth woman, and third consecutive woman, to hold the office...
called the attack "senseless and cruel violence" and House Speaker John Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
said, "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society". Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
John Roberts
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts, Jr. is the 17th and current Chief Justice of the United States. He has served since 2005, having been nominated by President George W. Bush after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist...
issued a statement noting, "we in the judiciary have suffered the terrible loss of one of our own", with the death of Chief Judge John Roll.
Arizona's United States Senators
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Jon Kyl
Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.The son...
and John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
Eric Cantor
Eric Ivan Cantor is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he became House Majority Leader when the 112th Congress convened on January 3, 2011...
, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
and many others issued statements.
Numerous foreign politicians commented on the shooting including Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, PC is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. On October 30, 2008 he was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs...
, British Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
, and Cuba's Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
.
Senator Chuck Schumer called for a fresh look at gun control
Gun politics
Gun politics addresses safety issues and ideologies related to firearms through criminal and noncriminal use. Gun politics deals with rules, regulations, and restrictions on the use, ownership, and distribution of firearms.-National sovereignty:...
laws in the United States, including the possibility of prohibiting the sale of high capacity magazines, and prohibiting a person who has been rejected for military service due to drug use from owning a gun. Homeland Security Committee
United States House Committee on Homeland Security
The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress. Its responsibilities include U.S...
chairman Peter T. King
Peter T. King
Peter T. "Pete" King is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. King's central Long Island district includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties....
announced that he would introduce a bill to ban the carrying of firearms within 1000 feet (304.8 m) of certain federal officials. Representative Carolyn McCarthy
Carolyn McCarthy
Carolyn McCarthy is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is located in central Long Island in west-central Nassau County and includes Mineola, the Five Towns, East Rockaway, Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Garden City, Hempstead,...
announced that she would introduce legislation to ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines to civilians.
On the night of January 11, Governor Brewer signed emergency legislation to prohibit protests within 300 feet (91.4 m) of any funeral services, in response to an announcement by the Westboro Baptist Church
Westboro Baptist Church
The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the...
that it planned to picket the funeral of shooting victim Christina-Taylor Green.
In light of the Tucson shooting, Senator Mark Udall
Mark Udall
Mark Emery Udall is the senior United States Senator from Colorado and a member of the Democratic Party. From 1999 to 2009, Udall served in the United States House of Representatives, representing . He also served a term in the Colorado House of Representatives.Born in Tucson, Arizona, he is the...
of Colorado proposed that members of both houses sit together during the 2011 State of the Union Address
2011 State of the Union Address
The 2011 State of the Union Address was a speech given by President Barack Obama at 9 p.m. EST on January 25, 2011, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives...
regardless of party, breaking with tradition. Sixty members of the House and Senate signaled their support for the plan. One seat was left empty in honor of Representative Giffords.
Memorials
U.S. flags flown by the federal government were displayed at half-staff from January 9, 2011 until sunset on January 15, 2011 in honor of the victims of the Tucson shooting. A national moment of silence was held at 11:00 am ESTEastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
on January 10, 2011 on the South Lawn of the White House
South Lawn (White House)
The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, is located directly south of the mansion, and is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, and on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, and along its curved southern perimeter by...
as well as the steps of the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
.
President Obama went to Tucson on January 12 where he met with the families of the victims and visited Giffords at her bedside in the medical center before attending the evening's televised memorial ceremony where he delivered a condolence address. Obama spoke of Giffords' improving condition, recalled and praised the victims of the attack, and held up Christina-Taylor Green and her interest in civics and leadership as examples for how American politics should function. "I want us to live up to her expectations," stated Obama. "I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us—we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."
Obama's speech was widely praised across the American political spectrum, but a few critics felt that applause and cheering from the audience created an inappropriate pep rally
Pep rally
Pep rallies are events that occur primarily in the United States and Canada. A pep rally is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school and college age, before a sports event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support members of the...
-like atmosphere at the service.
The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 82nd in-season exhibition game between the All-Stars of the National League and the American League ; the leagues composing Major League Baseball. The event was held on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the...
, played at Chase Field
Chase Field
Chase Field is a baseball stadium located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona and is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. It opened in , just in time for the Diamondbacks' first game as an expansion team...
in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, was dedicated to the Tucson shooting victims. Hernandez threw out the ceremonial first pitch to National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
starting catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
Brian McCann. Hernandez was accompanied to the field by the families of the shooting victims.
Speculation on causation
In the wake of the shooting, Democrats and Republicans both called for a cooling of political rhetoric and a return to bipartisanshipBipartisanship
Bipartisanship is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system such as the United States, in which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise. The adjective bipartisan can refer to any bill, act, resolution, or other political act in which both of the...
. On the eve of the shooting, Giffords herself had written to a Republican friend, Trey Grayson
Trey Grayson
Charles Merwin "Trey" Grayson III is the director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, a former Secretary of State of Kentucky and a candidate in the 2010 GOP primary to replace Jim Bunning, losing to Rand Paul.-Early years and career:A product of the Kenton County public school...
, Secretary of State of Kentucky, saying, "we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down." In March 2010, Giffords had expressed concern about the use of crosshairs on a national midterm election
United States elections, 2010
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...
map on Sarah Palin's
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
campaign webpage denoting targeted congressional seats including Giffords's, in Arizona's 8th district. Shortly after the map's posting and the subsequent vandalizing of her office that month, Giffords said, "We're in Sarah Palin's 'targeted' list, but the thing is that the way she has it depicted, we're in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize that there are consequences to that action." The image was removed from Palin's "takebackthe20" website following the January shootings.
The political climate in the United States and in Arizona in particular was pointed to by some observers as a possible contributing factor for the violent act. For example, Clarence Dupnik
Clarence Dupnik
Clarence William Dupnik is an American law enforcement official. Dupnik was appointed Sheriff of Pima County, Arizona, in February 1980 to fill a vacancy rising from the resignation of his predecessor, Richard Boykin. He won election in his own right in September 1980, and has been re-elected...
, Pima County Sheriff, initially expressed concern that overheated political rhetoric and violence may be related, observing, "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous." He felt that Arizona had unfortunately become "the capital" of such feelings. "We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry," he said. However, Dupnik later said that he had no evidence that the alleged murders were a result of anything particular Loughner may have read or heard. International media had referred to the political climate in the United States and the Palin map in particular. The French newspaper Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
said that the attack seemed to confirm "an alarming premonition that has been gaining momentum for a long time: that the verbal and symbolic violence that the most radical right-wing opponents have used in their clash with the Obama administration would at some point lead to tragic physical violence." In the Netherlands, historian Maarten van Rossem mentioned that "a strong political polarization in the United States has led to a poisoned political climate".
Some media commentators, such as Howard Kurtz
Howard Kurtz
Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...
and Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden is an Anglo-American journalist and author. He has been US editor of The Daily Telegraph since 2006.-Background:...
, criticized what they perceived as a rush to judgment about the shooter's motivation, disputing suggestions that the shooting was the result of the Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
or anything in connection to Palin. Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman
Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
wrote an op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
piece arguing that political rhetoric had become toxic. With renewed calls to tone down political rhetoric after the shooting, Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
apologized for any of his own words that might have incited violence saying, "Violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our Democracy, and I apologize for and repudiate any act or any thing in my past that may have even inadvertently encouraged violence." Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
stated that he did not know whether or not the political environment contributed to the shooting, but, "For all the hyperbole and vitriol that's become a part of our political process—when the reality of that rhetoric, when actions match the disturbing nature of words, we haven't lost our capacity to be horrified. ... Maybe it helps us to remember to match our rhetoric with reality more often."
Palin responded to her critics in a January 12 video, rejecting the notion that anyone other than the actual gunman could bear any responsibility for the Tucson shooting and accusing the press of manufacturing a "blood libel
Blood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
" to blame her and the right wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
for the attacks.
On Sunday, January 16, eight days after the shooting, Vietnam War veteran James Eric Fuller, who had been shot in the knee during the Loughner attack, was arrested for disorderly conduct at a town hall meeting. After Tucson Tea Party figure Trent Humphries, who had faulted Giffords for not having enough security, stated that gun control measures should not be discussed until all those killed in the shooting were buried, Fuller allegedly took a picture of Humphries and shouted, "You're dead." In an interview during the week after the shooting, Fuller had criticized Palin and what he called the "Tea Party crime-syndicate" for promoting a divisive political climate before the attacks. The police then committed him to an undisclosed medical facility to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. A police spokesman stated that the hospital will determine when he will be released. Meanwhile Humphries said that he was worried about Fuller's threat, and the dozens of other angry e-mails he received from people blaming right-wing political rhetoric for contributing to the assassination attempt on Giffords.
See also
- List of United States federal judges killed in office
- United States Congress members killed or wounded in office
- List of massacres in Arizona
External links
- Indictment. U.S. District Court of Arizona. January 19, 2011.
- "UMC Incident Command Information". University Medical Center (Tucson, Arizona).
- "A Statement from U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords' Chief of Staff, Pia Carusone". Gabrielle Giffords official website. January 9, 2011.
- "Amphitheater Schools Focused on Meeting Student and Staff Needs Following Shooting". Amphitheater Public SchoolsAmphitheater Public SchoolsAmphitheater Public Schools, also known as Amphi or District 10, is the third largest public school district in Tucson, Arizona in terms of enrollment, with over 16,000 students...
. January 10, 2011.